Welcome to Wednesday! I’ve got a lovely lot of links to share with you this week, so let’s get right on down to it! No dilly-dallying today!
1) Cover Art Cliches for 2009
Orbit have done a survey of the cover art on display during 2009, and A Dribble of Ink brings us the results with some added commentary — personally, I can see the 2010 version being dominated by hooded men!
2) Trailing the Book Trailer
We have a lovely new blog on the blogosphere — A Fantastical Librarian (add immediately to your blogrolls!) Mieneke has kicked off with an interesting look at book trailers and how they might affect purchasing habits.
3) Top 10 Urban Fantasy Pet Peeves
I enjoyed this very entertaining and tongue-in-cheek look at pet peeves in Urban Fantasy — I identified with the bulk of them as well! What are your pet peeves?
4) Formidable Female Protagonists
In the second of an ongoing series, Floor to Ceiling Books takes a look at one of the formidable female protagonists in fantasy fiction — this time round, Alanna the Lioness from the Tamora Pierce books is the subject. (Artwork provided by Bunni of Fu)
5) 2011: The Year of the Fantasy Doorstop
Stomping on Yeti is already looking ahead to 2011 — but mainly because he is dreading the effect it will have on his wrists, what with the number of massive fantasy books on their way next year! Which are you looking forward to?
6) Announcing the No. 1 YA Novel!
In a previous edition of WWW, I told you about the top 100 countdown of YA novels taking place on Persnickety Snark’s blog — and she has very recently announced the winner (and the full 100 in one post)… Is it worthy? Have you read it?
7) Shadows of the Apt Week
Over on Steve’s Fantasy Book Reviews, Steve hosted Shadows of the Apt week, featuring an interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky, a look at the cover art of the series and previewing The Scarab Path.
8) What do you want from an Award Winning Book?
The Man Booker Prize longlist has been announced and a new prize – The Green Carnation – has been announced. One of the judges of the Green Carnation poses the question: what do you want from an award winning book?
9) Fiction for Coffee Lovers
I adore lists of books. They’re dangerous for me; I always end up adding to my wishlist and buying more as a result of them. Read In A Single Sitting has started providing themed lists — I’ve seen one for coffee lovers and one for those who have recently had birthdays. I love this method of highlighting books!
10) Best American Fantasy series discontinued
Since Larry was so heavily involved, I leave it to him to pass over the news that BAF is no more, alas!
On that slightly sad note, I will bid you adieu for another week!
I liked the article on cover trends. Lately I’ve noticed a lot of covers featuring tatoos.
I loved the Urban Fantasy Pet Peeves article. Abigail is already one of my favorite reviewers of the subgenre, and the article is hilarious. And ironically, I had reason to complain about a Sex Break in a book I was reading just this afternoon.